JMM to form separate front to fight polls in Jharkhand

Ranchi, March 3 (IANS) Unhappy with the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) over not getting support to form an alternative government in the state, the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) said Tuesday it will form a third front with smaller parties to fight the Lok Sabha elections in Jharkhand. “We are in favour of forming a third front with support of the Left and smaller parties of the state,” Dulal Bhuiya, national general secretary of JMM, told IANS Tuesday.

“We will try to bring the Left parties like the CPI, CPI-M, Forward Bloc and smaller parties under one platform to form a third front. The front will fight against the NDA (National Democratic Alliance) and the UPA.”

Asked about aligning with the UPA, Bhuiya shot back: “Where does the UPA exist in Jharkhand? The UPA partners cannot decide on a minor issue, then how can we be part of UPA?”

The JMM is unhappy with the Congress and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) for not supporting it to form an alternative government in the state.

“The JMM is the single largest party of the UPA with 17 legislators, and the Congress and RJD have nine and seven respectively. Despite being the single largest party of UPA we were not supported to form the government,” he said.

JMM chief Shibu Soren quit as chief minister on Jan 12 after losing a key assembly by-election he needed to win to remain in the post. The JMM projected three legislators as possible successors, but they were rejected by the Congress and RJD. Jharkhand is under president’s rule since Jan 19 and the state assembly has been kept under suspension.

In the 2004 Lok Sabha elections, the Congress and JMM had formed an alliance to fight the elections. The alliance swept the elections in the state. The UPA, including RJD, bagged 13 of the 14 Lok Sabha seats. The BJP won one seat.

Political experts feel that if the JMM succeeds in forming a third front then it could give a tough time to both the NDA and UPA in the state. At present the JMM has four MPs from Jharkhand.